The Right to Own Guns

The Right to Own GunsAs American citizens, we have more rights and freedoms than any other group of people in the world. The founders of this country established these freedoms because they had previously lived in countries where the people did not have as many rights. One of these rights is stated in the Second Amendment to the Constitution, which proclaims "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." But over the years various laws and regulations have infringed upon this right. The reasons for these laws are to get the guns that cause crime and injuries off the streets. But most of these laws have only prevented the common citizen from acquiring a firearm. There should be some regulation with regard to who can own a gun, but we need to ensure that this regulation is done in a fair and practical manner. The best argument for the protection of the right to possess arms is the Second Amendment. The purpose of the amendment, and the entire Constitution, is to establish certain rights that cannot be abolished or changed by our government. But the wording of the amendment has been a source of debate. The main argument is that the amendment only provides for a militia, and that the "right to keep and bear arms" is referring to militia members only. But the amendment also states that it is the right of "the people" to keep and bear arms. But is "the people" referring to only the militia or to all citizens in general? In 1990 that question was answered in the Supreme Court case U.S. v. Verdugo-Urquidez (Cramer 171). This case was about a man who had committed a crime while in Mexico. The man argued that his constitutional rights had been violated. But the court ruled that since he was outside the United States when the crime was committed, he was not protected. During the case, the question of what the "right of the people" meant in the Constitution (Cramer 171). The court decided that "' the people' protected by the...

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

...﻿Riwen Zhang
Thesis Paper
Nov 12, 2014
Concealed Carry Right Should be limited
Because of the establishment of concealed carry legislation by all states over the years, it has been increasingly possible for almost every American citizen to carry concealed weapons in public places. As unfortunate and horrifying gun violence tragedies like the Newtown School Shooting and Sandy Hook school shooting repeatedly occur, whether citizens should have the right to carry a conceal handgun in public has created a massive uproar. People have different views about this issue. Just as the Second Amendment states that every human being has the constitutional right to keep and bear arms, many gun-rights advocates believe that reasonable citizens have the right to carry any kind of concealed weapons for self-defense purposes. On the other hand, people who argue against the right of concealed carrying claim that the Second Amendment does not state that law-abiding citizens are allowed to carry concealed guns in public and they may consider concealed handguns as an inefficient form for defense purpose as it creates more chances for potential crimes and injuries. As you can see, both sides have made very strong argument.
Even though citizens without criminal records have the constitution right to keep and bear firearms, citizens’ rights to...

...There is a famous quote, which states: "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." This quote is technically true. But if there are no guns, it will be a whole lot more difficult for people to kill people. Sure people could use different weapons such as knives and golf clubs to kill people. But the victim will have a significant better chance of defending him or herself from a weapon other than firearms.
I was born in Tokyo, Japan and moved to the United States when I was six. I still go visit my relatives and friends in Japan every other year. "Japan - described as having the strictest controls in the world - bans private possession of firearms except by people who need them for official duties or by licensed hunters, shooters, athletes, dealers or collectors." (Stencel pg. 164). Walking in a large downtown area of Tokyo in the middle of the night feels very different from walking in downtown Atlanta at nighttime. There are many people walking around town even past midnight in Japan because the crime rate is lower than it is here in the U.S. People don't worry as much as they do here in the U.S. about being robbed, kidnapped, etc. Unfortunately, Japan's crime rate in general is higher than it was before. I would here about murders in Japan happening with knives and such, but very rarely do I here about murders or other such crimes happening with firearms. But the crime rate is still much lower than compared to the U.S.' crime...

...Contreras
US Government, Period 6
Right To Bear Arms
Bang, bang bang! I heard gun shots. It came from the house across the street. Apparently someone broke into the house and the robber had a gun and was ready to fire, but because of gunrights my neighbor had a gun also and he was able to protect his family and himself. "Imagined what would of happened if we didn't have that right and I didn't have a gun?" he told me. I told him that that was true. Gunrights are a good thing. It can protect us. Also if there weren't any gunrights what would we do with all the guns, we wouldn't be able to get rid of them all. If we didn't have gunrights our rights are being violated.
It's a great thing that we have gunrights. What if someone broke into your house with a weapon and you were in the same situation as my neighbor, but there were no gunrights and because of that you didn't have a gun to protect yourself? It's a scary thought. The importance of allowing citizens access to guns as a life-saving measure is even more evident as it comes to instances of multiple-victim public shootings at school. There have been eight school gun...

...Running Head: GUN CONTROL VS. GUNRIGHTSGun Control vs. GunRights
By
Robert Marlow
For
CJ 450 Senior Seminar
Dr. Michael Eskey
Park University
September 2009
Abstract
Gun control and gunrights have been an issue that has been debated for decades. Whenever there has been a mass shooting of any magnitude, it seems that the debate heats up even more. Consideration must be given as to what the benefits are of these gun control laws. Gun control laws must also be written as to not violate the Second Amendment of the Constitution as well. There have been many studies accomplished to determine if gun control laws actually do reduce the amount of violent crimes. These studies have discovered that there is no link between gun control laws and violent crime reduction. Even though most individuals have their different views on gun control, most seem to believe that the current laws do not have an effect on violent crimes. The hypothesis of gun control does not have an effect of reducing violent crimes was tested and the hypothesis is supported by the data collected within this thesis. The data used was collected from studies by other individuals, a survey of the public opinion, and other statistics recorded from previous years of violent crimes....

...
Your Rights to Bare Arms
No one enjoys being told what to do or when to do it. As Americans we shouldn't be intimidated by things such as gun control. There should not be a debate on whether or not we should bann the continuous use of guns here in America; the reason is simple.
Guns have been around for as long as history can remember. The majority of people believe guns are dangerous, unsafe, and nothing but hazardous; however, this is not completely true. There is no doubt that guns can be dangerous in the wrong hands, but it’s more of a true blame to say people kill people rather than guns. Limited restrictions are utilized on the distribution and possession of firearms. Some examples include: criminals, the mentally unstable, dishonorably discharged soldiers, illegal users, aliens, and renounced citizens. Every one of them have restrictions in the purchase and possession of firearms. As a punishment, violating these statutes can net you 10 years of imprisonment, and/or a $250,000 fine. As Americans, we should take pride in the liberty of being allowed to own a gun. We are born with this privilege, and it should remain a privilege to those who abide by its regulations.
The right to own a gun is secured by the Second amendment: (A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security...

...Gunrights and gun control have different meaning depending with where one lives and the influence they have on one’s life. The debate on gun control has been going on for ages now. There have been people advocating for gun control while others want the control tightened. The federal government has been working on amending current gun regulations to be able to control gun ownership. Owning a gun in the United States is a peculiar American tradition so the Obama government and those who will follow should know that this will not change any time soon. Different states take different stances on the issues and it’s a topic that spurs emotions whenever it is raised.
The Gunrights topic is a current relevant issue as the congress last week converged to vote on the way forward. Last month there was a shootout in an elementary school massacre that claimed the lives of 26 people, 20 of them children all aged six-seven years. that left so many school going children dead and some hurt. In the last few years there has so many shoot outs in American schools and in estates, some being by young teenagers. Many people claim that this has been brought about by having so many guns in the communities. An idea that brings controversy because in Canada there at least three guns per person, the federal government is majorly...

...research project is gunrights. More importantly, my question is; Are American citizens justified to own and use firearms? The answer to my question is yes, we are indeed justified to own and use firearms under the rights of the constitution. For you to know how to answer my question as un biased as possible you need to know what the second amendment states. “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” That means that we are justified to own and use firearms for the security of our state.
For my project I chose to make a bumper sticker, a statistical chart, a fairy tale, an advertisement, and I chose lyrics from the song Guns by Justin Moore. My bumper sticker has a short and simple phrase laid over a background but it is not too flashy. A bumper sticker is also an easy way to spread my opinion. I made a statistical chart to prove my opinion and show facts. I wrote a fairy tale because I thought it would be fun to turn this problem and my question in to a story. My advertisement is used to convince others of my opinion and that it is the right thing to support. I chose song lyrics to show others that I am not the only one that is in support of the second amendment.
With my research from databases, the internet, and books I have come to the...

...﻿Gun Control
Have you ever been involved in a home invasion? How did you protect yourself, or if this would happen have you thought about how you would protect yourself? This is a real concern in families’ minds across the nation. When I think of having a future family I think about how I would keep them safe. Growing up I never had to worry about this, because I knew that my parents would be able to protect me. The way my parents would and have protected me was with a gun. Today, gun control is a major concern in political campaigns across the nation. I will be talking about why we should keep our gunrights based on: home safety, illegal guns and the second amendment of the constitution.
We would agree that home safety is in the minds of most Americans, but no matter how hard we try to protect our homes it’s not always a realistic fact. According to fbi.gov, nationwide in 2010, there were an estimated 367,832 robberies. According to Gary Kleck, Ph.D. a professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida State University in Tallahassee and author of "Point Blank: Guns and Violence in America" conducted a survey by random telephone sampling of 4,978 households in all the states except Alaska and Hawaii. Results indicating that American civilians use their firearms as often as 2.5 million times every year defending against a confrontation with a...